Social Media

Sandy Really Was Instagram's Moment: 1.3 Million Pics Posted

Turns out all that talk about Hurricane Sandy being a watershed moment for Instagram wasn't just hot air. Users snapped 800,000 pics tagged with #Sandy, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom said Monday. (The actual total, according to the app itself: 789,266.)

The second most popular hashtag, we noticed, was #hurricanesandy, attached to 478,925 pics. #Frankenstorm was on 48,000 more. Total it all up, not counting the dozens of minor Sandy related hashtags (or rather, assuming that they balance out the double- and triple-hashtagged pictures, and all the Sandy shots not hashtagged in the heat of the moment) and you get 1.3 million.

Any way you slice it, the Sandy-tagged total dwarfs anything else Instagram users have covered. There were 85,000 pics with the hashtag #SuperBowl earlier this year, Systrom told the GigaOm Road Map conference in San Francisco. It was "likely the most digitally captured event in history," he said.

The company's next challenge, according to Systrom: "How do we mine all these photos, make sense of them so you can consume the most interesting photos about Sandy?" That, he concluded, was why Instagram was going to "have to become a big data company." It also might one day use smart analysis of those pictures — allowing you to locate, say, open gas stations near you.

Battery Park

Belmar, New Jersey

Seaside Heights, New Jersey

"Aerial views of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy to the New Jersey coast taken during a search and rescue mission by 1-150 Assault Helicopter Battalion, New Jersey Army National Guard, Oct. 30, 2012."

Portsmouth, Virginia

Piscataway Township, New Jersey

"Spc. Anthony Monte along with Soldiers from the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, New Jersey Army National Guard, mobilized for Hurricane Sandy provide assistance to displaced residents at an emergency shelter at the Werblin Recreation Center, Piscataway Township, N.J., Oct. 29, 2012."Via U.S. Army

Damaged Space Shuttle Enterprise

Mears, Virginia

"Virginia National Guard Soldiers trudged through high water and cut trees to clear a path for two rescue missions that transported seven adults and one child to safety at two locations on Cattail Road in the Mears, Va. area Oct. 30." Via The National Gaurd

Fort Greene, Brooklyn

A car that has been smashed by a tree in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Via CSondi

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